Bridal veil falls ice festival
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Allen Sanderson wrote:As such, one does not want to be anywhere under any of the climbs except for perhaps Stairway. And even then it will be questionable.The BV ice festival sounds like great fun! Hopefully it can be adjusted for conditions and be as safe as possible. As hinted above the Stairway can certainly slide too. It may not have the monster avy's like BV chute sometimes has, but the sloping steps up the Stairway can store unstable snow that does let loose on occasion with enough punch to knock a leader off the ice. One time we were climbing a bit of ice to the right side of P2 of the Stairway on a warm-ish afternoon. We heard a distant rumble above that turned into a roar so we ducked for cover. A wet slide came shooting down the Stairway that packed a good amount of force and wind, and covered us in spindrift. Fortunately no one was directly in its path at the time. Unfortunately the right avy conditions pay no attention to plans for festivals. |
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Don't know the logistics of this (access, legality, methods, liability) but maybe those who know what they are doing (patrollers) can "pull" those potential avi's down if they appear to be a threat. Yeah, I know.....lots of problems in doing so. |
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The lower part of the Provo canyon area is on private land. I.e. Stairway, BV falls, and further up canyon. There are times that UDOT will shoot the canyon. To my knowledge though they do not shoot that side of the canyon because the slides typically do not impact the highway. |
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Allen Sanderson wrote:The lower part of the Provo canyon area is on private land. I.e. Stairway, BV falls, and further up canyon. There are times that UDOT will shoot the canyon. To my knowledge though they do not shoot that side of the canyon because the slides typically do not impact the highway.I know it's late in the game....maybe too late.....but I wonder if UDOT would accommodate the festival? Good PR for them but probably a bureaucratic hurdle they couldn't overcome. But just shooting doesn't guarantee the troubles are over. Just wondering...... |
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Good points everyone on the Avalanche conditions. We have been actively looking at the situation and have been in contact with the Utah Avalanche Center (UAC) as well as with the UDOT avalanche controllers discussing a plan of action for the festival. Our current plan is to monitor what this storm brings and specifically to look at what the situation is at the Stairway to Heaven area (the only area being considered). As mentioned in the above thread the Stairway shelves can be an issue and for this reason we will be looking closely at what this storm brings over the next few days discussing the plan with the UAC and UDOT. However, based on what the storm is predicted to bring at the elevation of the Stairway things are looking positive for us to hold the festival there. We will be updating this thread each day as we move closer to the event. |
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Just a heads up. UDOT does shoot the bridal veil side of the canyon on a semi regular basis. I have talked with them several days, that they are down there. They are pretty cool when you take an interest in what they are doing. They have shown me areas on a map that they are doing control work in. |
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Dallen, |
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Hello everyone, yes it still on and were excited for you all to come out! I just spoke with several avalanche professionals and the things are looking good for us to continue with the plan to run the climbing at Stairway. UDOT will not be shooting the Bridal Veil Falls drainage as they dont see there is a reason at this time. To do so they would need to coordinate with several agencies as well as close the road. Excited to have you come out!!! |
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In case you haven't seen the schedule on line here it is: |
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Had a blast! Hope everyone else did. |
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Yes, thanks Dan for all your work. Great festival! Thanks to Matt T for all your work too. Great to get to know you. Until, next year |
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Thanks much for organizing the event! I met Dan Saturday night at the slideshows and after party and he is a super nice and swell guy, incredibly down-to-earth. |
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Aerili wrote: the documentaries about Jeff Lowe and the FA of Colorado's Bridal Veil Falls were seriously awesome.What do I got to do to get to see that? Is there a link. a website, a download, a DVD? So far this is what I've found. supertopo.com/climbing/thre… |
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Kevin, |
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